The Sun. — London, England, 1808-10-01 00:00:00

AN lIISTOEICA.!. PnCITALi OP THE CANIPAIqN OF WM. NA,PAATE IN ITALY, iN TkIE Y EARS 1795 AVD 1797. BATTLE Of ENOTTE. This battle, with which the campaign of BUO 7 KAPARTE in Italy commence)., can scarcely said to merit a place io history. It was a partial engage ment, with little remarkaOle in it, and not an en counter of tw armies, as the word " battle" would lead one to suppose. It is not the fault of BUONA.. PARTE'S historian, however, if we do not regard this event as the most brilliant opening of a glorioas campaign ! It is a real victory w hich BLIONAPARtE obtained over BEAULIEU in persOn. So his historian assures us in the most direEt and positive terms. To this there is but one objeEtion, tiamtly, that BEAU LIEU Was not at Montenotte; or near it ! He had taken up his winter-quarters in Austrian LomuardY, which he had not yet quitted when he heard of the arrival of it),oou French at Voltri, under the com mand of General CERvONI. He was informed that the objeEt of this General was to p'ish forward either by the way of Vado or of . the Bochetta, for the purpose of making a diversion in the neighbour . of Tortona or Alexandria, while the rest of the republican foites were advancing along that part of the country called the Streights of Montserrat.--- The letter added, that if BEAULIEU wished to seize the important Post of Motitebotte, he would do well TO attack it before the gth of April, which was the day appointed for reinforcing it. I can speak with the utmost certainty of this letter, because it was addressed to myself; and I dispatches it immediate ly to General BEAULIEU by the liandS of General ROCCAVINA. This letter was dated the 30th of March, and came from Vado. BEAULIEU profited of this advice, and, to pre= vent the &sips of the enemy, i nstant l y or d ere d D'ARGENTa A u to prOCeed with his small division to D ego , so as to reach it on the sth of April, to march to Montenotte on the 6th, and to attack it that very moining in conjnoClion with the forces of General RoceAvit4i. With regard to himself, he marched with a detachment of 6000 Men Only to recover VoltA. The businisS was so ably ccinclueted, and his arrival at Voltri was so prOmpt; so sudden, and so unexpected, that CeavON/ was absolutely surprised ; and, in Spite of his superiority, quitted the city in disorder, or, to speak more properly, fled with the utmost precipitation, leaving a great num. her of killed and wounded, besides more than 2000 prisoners - , whom flemnizt.f sent to Pavia. Let the world judge by this of the contidence dtie io the historian of the Corsican, Who writes, that BEatiLitti ordered his Generals to attack Voltri with 10,06 men the Stith Germinal or iOth of April ;" while he attac,teclit in person on the Bth at the head Of 6000 only. The same histdrian says that CERv6 had bui 3000 Med, while be had as; luredly 10,006 ; and he bestows the highest praise's On this CeßvOrn, who; as he adds, defended himself with the usual intreliiditg of the soldiers of liberty, Whereai he made a shameful and precipitate retreat, or rather flight, with a considerable lOSS Of men and Stores °revery kind. If the report of the historian is direCtly in the face of truth respeeting the affair it Voltri, it is riot less $0 in that of Montenotte. He atlirnis that this post was attacked by IleAueictr; at the head of 15,000 men, on -the tith are as of April. I n tills there many errors as words. It was not BEAU LIEU who attacked Nlontenott e , b ut D'A t tocwrzitt and ROCCAVINA. They were not at the head Of 15,000 men, brit of 9600, Since their whole foree consisted Of nine Austrian battaliOnS. They did not commence the attack on the i 1 th, btit on the morning of the toth. The only tact stated is; that, in spite of the numerous reinforcements which the post had re ceived on the oth, all the positions Of the French were attacked and carried, except the last, in which they were enabled to maintain themselves. This redoubt was defended by the Chief of Brigade, RAMPON, who cohclueted himself like a brave man ; but to make a hero of him, who, dur**4 . ; the whole of the nigh!, with onlyfifteen-leuntlrect men, resided the efforts of u n ei2tire ansy, within pistol-shot, is to trespass a little on the bounds of truth ! I will give the fad as it really happened. The Austrians arrived in front of this last redoubt ' w het) the evening was already far advanced. Ge "erali T j'AmgcNrzAty and ROCCAVINA, to favour their t roops, and 1 - ive them an opportu n ity o f t a ki n g breath, after an aaion which had lasted the whole of the day, thou g ht it prudent to suspend th e a tt a ck. They contented themselves, therefore, with taking the most advantageous positions after which, a very slack and ineffeetual fire took place on both sides, which seemed to have no ether objea than a reciprocal alarm. A brisk and serious attack was Thant to be made before the morning broke, but most unfortunately, General ItoccAvms was dan gerously wounded, and obliged to be instantly taken hum Montetiotte . to Dego to be dressed. I speak of fasts which arc intimately known to me, since I xea3 Dego ~ vlieu RoccAvisn arrived. This gallant man, before he quitted Montenotte, 1131 takca . care to advise D'ARGENTPAU to assault the 'An - alit daring the night, ih'itt, when the French, who : were expected in great force the following morning, should arrive, they might find tne Aus tria:ls in posse3sion of that important post► 4Att, GENTEAU gave him his word, and—did nothing This was an error of no small importance ; and the miserable consequences which resulted from it had a powerful influence on the whole of the campaign. In faci, soon after min•rise the next Morning, IteARGENTEAU saw the French marching in ftom all quarters : he took fright instantly,, and ordered the drums to beat a retreat. Never was it executed With more promptitude. Before ten o'clock there was not a single Austrian at Montenatte, except l• such as, not being able to fly with the rapidity of the rest, chose rather to su r render, than lose their lives by an unprofitable resistance. BUONAPARTE boasts of having prepared and de cided this victory, by pushing the troops of his centre and left wing upon the flank and rear of the Austrians, where MASSE VA appeared scattering terror and death! What is proved by these poetic rhapsodies ? that BUONAPARTE brought up immense forces against a very feeble enemy ; and that he seeks to exaggerate his success, by creating or magnifying, in his dis patches, obstacles that have no reality ! Thus he per tinaciously maintains, that LA HARPE and BEAU LIEU charged hint with fury, while BEAULIEU was, at least, fifty miles from Montenotte—since he was then at Aqui, as can beproved by all the inhabi tants of the place, who know perfealy well what a paroxySlT) of rage he fell, when he understood that IYARGENTEAU, whom he had ordered to attack Montenotte on the 6th of April, had not attempted it till the It must, however, be admitted, that BEAULIEU, iiprin hearing of the advantage which DARGENTEAU and ito'ccatvact had gained, and that nothing but the list redoubt remained to force, determined to join theni,'and was on the point of beginning his march, when; just as he was mounting his horse, he received intelligence that D ' ARGENTEAU had sa crificed all the adtrantages which the attack of the evening had procured him: To render the affair mare tragical, BUONAPARTE, or his Historian, affirms that the two Generals, TYARGENTEAU and ROCCAVINA, were dangerously wounded in the battle of Montenotte, while the fad. is, that ROCCAVINA was not in it, having been wounded the evening before, and taken to Dego, and it is equally matter of fad, that IYARGENTEAU escaped safe and sound from the battle, having lost nothing but his honour ! All these faits are still present to me, as they all passed under my own eyes. I was at Dego with ROCCAVINA, when we first heard of the lamentable retreat of D'ARGENTEAU. I recollea perfe&ly that about ten in the morning, I was riding on the road leading to Mon tenotte, when I saw a crowd of peasants running towards me. I ask ed them the news, and they replied, with every mark of affright, " you will soon see them with your own "eyes, at Dego. Montenotte is quite covered with " Frenchmen. As soon' as the Austrians saw them " at a distance, hastily marching towards them in " great numbers ; as well from Savona, as Albizola, " they took to their heels even more nimbly than " us, and it is now some hours since they quitted " Montenot te" Nothing could equal my astonishment ; I return ed as quickly as possible, and acquainted ROCCA vz- NA with the fatal news. My good friend," said he, with a smile, " do not believe it. What these peasants have told you respeEting-the flight of our troops, cannot possibly be. They are not accustomed to see armies in ac_ tion, and have perhaps mistaken for flight, some re trograde motion of D ' ARGENTEAU, which he has made, either because he has not attacked the redoubt, as he, promised, or because he has not been able to Carry- it, Reside,, if he was no longer at Monte notte, where would he have retreated to preserve his troops certainly here—to Dego. He cannot be ignorant of the advantages of this position, nor of what importance it is to secure it. He knows too, that without his detachment, We cannot reckon on any long resistance. An,:, to snm up all, if D'AR GIVITEAU bad chosen any other retreat, be would certainly have sent me word of it, that I might pro vide as well as possible for the security of this post, as well as of myself." He had hardly spoken, when he dispatched one of his Aids-de-Camp towards Mon tenotte, escotteci by three hussars. Not one of the four returned ; they were all taken prisoners. We passed the rest of the day in a state of the most distrerNing uncertainty ; but at length, towards night, official advices arrived from D'ARGENTEAU, that the enemy had compelled him to retire - to Pa retic) (a place situated in the rear of , Dego, and about three hours march from it), but that he would not fail to hasten to his assistance the thoment that the firing of cannon should announce that the French bad conunenced an attack en Dv,. . • This intelligence was a stroke of thunder to Roc .• . , CAVINIA.He had,passecl the whole of the day in a state olangui,ih, and this letter completed his misery. He burst into tears, and, perceiving that I was deeply affeded at it, he exclaimed, f‘ My grief is P9ignant and profound---.D'ARGENTuAu, my friend, Pas committed three etrors, each more enormous than the preceding. He failed to attack, Monte tiotte on the day fixed by General BEAULIEU ; he yesterday failed to assault the last redoubt of Monte none, as we had determined; and,he has now left exposed to the enemy's fire the post of Dego, whiCh; in our present circumstances, is of the utmost_ ,im portance td k the army. This last fault is the most serious and unpardonable. I foresee a thousand ca lamities at hand which will fall in thunder on our troops ; and it is horrible to think that the glory of our Master and the honour of our nation are both about to be compromised." Enough, and more than enough, perhaps, has been said on the affair of Montenotte, to which BUONA PARTE and his flatterers have given an importance to which it is by no means entitled. As it was the first transaaion of the new General, all France, and indeed all Europe, was taught to re-echo the cry of a prodigious victory. As it was the objet to im pose BUONAPARTE on the world as an ALEXANDER, more than one attempt was made to assimilate the battle of Montenotte to those of the Arbella or the Granicus ! And what methads were taken to give plausibility to this absurd romance ? The affair was altered in its substance and in its circumstances; falls, which had no existence, were created; and the most intrepid and shameless quackery took the place oftruth. A general battle was fabricated, where there was only a partial action ; and an obstinate resistance imagined, where scarcely the slightest was made, since D'AR GENTEAU did not venture to dispute the ground. Three Austrian Generals were brought forward, who made a gallant defence; namely, BEAULIEU, who was at the head of fifteen thousand men, exclusive of considerable reinforcements, and Roc cAVINA and D'AaoENTgliti, who commanded considerable corps. Good ! Every syllable of this is fiaion—pure fiaion. BEAULIEU was at a vast distance from the field of battle; ROCCAVINA was at Dego, dangerously wounded; and the only one of the three present was D'ARGENTEAU, who had only eight or nine thousand men with him, and whose early retreat had all the characteristics of a flight ! Let the Reader now judge of the degree of credit due to this first report made by BUONAPARTE to the Direaory. It is a vile and Contemptible mass of falsehoods. One would think that it was SOSIA, who, not being present at the battle, was attempting to give hie master, AMPHITRYON, an account of it, just as if he had seen every thing ! What however is too clear to escape notice in this transaaion, is, that BUONAtARTE had already begun to avail himself of that grand resource of corruption, to which' he undoubtedly owes the greatest part of his military success : for we must be stupid, as well as blind, not to discover that D'AEGENTEAU, the only General whom he had to deal with at Monte notte, was, at once, a coward and a.traitor. He was a traitor, an infamous traitor, who did not at tack Montenotte at the time prescribed by his Gene ral, but calmly waited. till it had been reinforced ! Re was a traitor, an infariadus traitor, who, in his retreat, or rather flight, kept at a diitance from Dego, and left a post entirely exposed, which was of the utmost consequence to the safety of the Austrian army. We have received a private Letter frOm Lkbon, which states, that the publication of the ProcLima lion signed by Generals BERESFORD and KELLERMAN, (inserted in our Paper of yesterday) has created the utmost discontent in the French Army. Gene ral JuNoT in particular was perfeatly enraged at the loss of his plunder, and has issued a formal protest against the interpretation which General KELLER MAN has put upon the Convention. On the other hand, KELLERMAN contends tbat the interpretation was correct, but says he did not intend that the Proclamation should be published, as it will ruin him in the egimation of the French Army. Yesterday morning his MAJESTY, his Royal High ness the Duke of KENT, Princesses SOPHIA, Au- GUSTA, and Am2LIA, accompanied by Lady HOWE, Lord WALSINOHAM, General FITZROY, and Colonel TAYLOR, took their usual ride in Windsor Park, and returned to the Palace. at twelve o'clock. Captain SCHONBERG is appointed a Commissioner of the Navy, not a Commissary, as erroneously stated in the public Prints. The French have lately built and launclied.a Ship of the Line at Genoa, but attempts had been made to destroy her, since which time she has been con stantly guarded by soldiers. Orders have been received at Portsmouth to fit out several old Frigates. Some line-of-battle Ships are to be paid off, and their crews to be turned over to the Frigates. Yesterday afternoon, four waggons, loaded with dollars, were sent from the Bank, escorted by a par ty of the Life Guards, to Portsmouth, to be shipped I - Qr Spain. T 7 • r N AV A. 1.4 . • N E W . . „ . LLANDS OF SCILLY, SEPT., 2 , 4,o—Came in three Transports from the coast of Portugal, with troop 4 and horses on board, to rendezvous 31 . Falmot - ah, till Sir DAVIDBAIRD'S arrival from Ire;and. t SEPT. 25.—An ved the London Packet, PuR-;rs Master, from 'Trinidad, bouni to Liverpool, with sugar, last from Falt”,)uth. Arrived the Ann an.! Sara?, of Liverpool, BAY- , 11. ER Master, from Portsmouth, with cu 1s for this Garrison. SEPT. 26.—Passed by a large Fleet of Transports, from Ireland, having the troops under Sir DAVID BAIRD, to rendezvous at Falmouth. PORTSMOUTH, SEPt. 30.—Arrived the Triton, EVANS, and Lord Nelson, PEARSON, from the C;.pe of Good Hope, which place they left on the Gth of July last, with the following Transports under con voy of the Cormorant Sloop of War, viz. the Wel lington, HARRISON, Albion, ADIE, BrienSWiti, BARRETT, Henry, LESSLIE, Doris, L3UCTJB2, He lena (Merchant-ship), JONES, for London, touched • at St. HELEN A the 20th ofJuly, sailed on the E.)sth,, parted company with the All'ion, ADZE, off the Cape de Verde Islands in a gale of wind. The Triton brings word that the India Fleet, out, ward-bound, sailed from the Cape on the 25th June; having taken in Troops there. There were four sail of outward-bound India Men at St. Helena when they touched ; no Transports at the Cape when they sailed; the Flortz, CLARK, was at Allaza Bay, load ing wood for the Cape. Also arrived several Transports .under convoy of the Brazen . Sloop of War, from Portugal; among them the Ann and the Catherine; the Master of th e former reports that three of the Fleet were taken oft . the Wight, and . we have heard that the Brazen wits ordered direCtly to sea, to look after them. , FALMOUTH, SEPT. -2 . —Arrivei a Fleet of Trans_ ports, from Cork, to join.thc Cxpedition lying.here, largeA Fleet from the Baltic ariived off Gotteu burgh the 20th ult. . „ GERMAN:. PAPERS. BANKS OF THE SL E R, SEPT. I;.3.—The Journal of Genoa says, that according to various letters from Paris, his Highne3s the. Prince:of Ponte Curvo will be placed on the throne of Portugal, and ghat the Prince of Neufchatel will be appointed to 013 Grand, Duchy of Berg. ASCHAPPENBGRGH, SEPT. 17.—r appears certain, that Marshal LANNES has gone to meet his Majesty the Emperor of Russia, in order to receiv , :.his Ma jesty on the confines of his Empire, and to conduct, him to Erfurth, where the two Emperors of France and Russia are to have a meeting. BAMBERG, SEPT. I,—Yesterd a y six regiments of French dragoons, with a numerous battering train of artillery, entered this neighbourhood, and were quartered partly in the city, and partly in the neigh bouring villages. Another article, dates the 2d, mentions that the baggage, artillery, &c. and the whole of the six corps of the army, had passed through, and that the park of artillery was sup posed to be destined for Coblentz. Letters froni Heidelberg and Dresden are also full of accounts of the march of French troops through those places. Yesterday the Lord IVlayor, the new Sheriffs, Al dermen J. J. SMITH and HUNTER, accompanied by the RECORDER and other City Officer 3, and by the Masters and Assistants of the Ironmongers' and Mer chant Tailors' Companies, proceeded by water, hi the state barges, to Westminster Hall, where the new Sheriff's went through the usual ceremony of counting the hob-nails, and took the oaths before one of the Corsitor Barons. Toe) , afterwardS return, ed to the City in a sitnilar procession, and proceeded to the New City of London Tavern, where an ele gant dinner was provided . for them by Alderman HUNTER, the junior Shetiff. THE THEATRE.-11 is with much satisfa&i on we find that success attends the transfer of the COveitt- Garden Company to the King's Theatre.—The Grecian Daughter had a nuniet - Ous audience last night. Mrs. SIODONS displayed all her great talents in Euphrasia, till she was insulted by sbtnerhing thrown at her from the slips on the left side of the Theatre, and which evidently depressed her, as the outrage was not taken up by the audience as it ought to have, been, and the ruffiah driven from the Theatre. POPE aECitlill:ei himself very ably in &an der, and BRUNTON jUstly Obtained much applause for the spirit which Marked his Phi/01es. There is a peculiar advanta4e in this Theatre, for; - lat•ge as it is, not a syllable is lost, even in the remotest parts cf the house. A dreadful fire broke out, at five o'clock 7esterdav morninr. in the premises of Mr. 'MABERLy, O r d nance Stares Contraaot, in Castle-qtr,.2et, Long - Acre. From the quantity of combustible materials on the premises, consisting of tallow and oil, FM terials for gunpowder, hides, &c. the flames raged with extraordinary fierceness, and the whole of the building was speedily burned to the ground. The names caught the tool of the Two Angels public house, kept by Mr. Jones, the corner of Little St. Martin's-lane, and soon destroyed the interior of it,' as well as the adjoining house belonging lo Mr. Colman, corn-chandler, in Sr. Ivlnriln's-lane. In Castle-street four other houses were entirely de stroyed. There were upwards of 400 hide i con sumed. During the course of the day, several casks of oil were taken out of the Wins. The tires, raged with such fury, that, very little furniture could be saved from any of the houses. The fire, it is supposed, was occasioned by the bursting of one of the coppers, containing tallow. The premises were not insured. On the 9, Eh of July a dreadful conflagration took place at Brzescien, in Lithuania, iu whicia 5O houies fell a prey tci the flamm